“Mirror”<\/a>, Alexander-Arnold addressed the “abuse” he faced after leaving Liverpool. He stressed, though, that he will always love the club where he grew up.<\/p>\nRead also<\/p>\n
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Jeered on his return to Anfield with Real Madrid, Alexander-Arnold drew a line between fans venting their anger inside the stadium and “things that crossed the line”.<\/p>\n
“Online abuse, and the threats that come through private messages on social media, or by other means, are a sad part of life in 2026, if you are a public figure and doing things that draw a lot of attention,” he said.<\/p>\n
He continued: “I can accept that, knowing that it does not represent the football club I love, Liverpool, and does not represent my city. The whistling, and the disappointment from Liverpool fans, is something I can completely handle. I can understand it in my own way”.<\/p>\n
Alexander-Arnold went on: “I heard a lot during that period that Liverpool fans do not want to be told how to feel or think, and I agree with that. But I hope a day will come when there is some understanding of the decisions I wanted to make in my own life”.<\/p>\n
Anger and disappointment<\/p>\n
“It hurts me because of what I gave to the club over 20 years, and the sacrifices I made during that period,” he continued. “So of course it hurts me, but I understand the disappointment. I even understand the anger expressed through the whistling”.<\/p>\n
The anger did not stay inside the stadium. Someone repeatedly daubed the word “rat” on a mural of Alexander-Arnold near the ground, and one of his friends sent him a picture of it.<\/p>\n
“Returning to Liverpool after everything that happened, it was on my mind,” the England full-back said, adding that his family were affected too.<\/p>\n
Taking in the whole day proved difficult. “Even from the start, even the idea of walking into the away team’s dressing room was strange,” he said. “I had never set foot in it before”.<\/p>\n
Online abuse<\/p>\n
Alexander-Arnold, who has previously suffered vile racist abuse online, said: “Regarding the threats against people through social media, and the collective attacks on social media and their impact on people’s mental health, I think this is a real issue. But it is something governments and technology companies must solve. I have somewhat protected myself from that as much as possible, but I realise that for some people it is not possible”.<\/p>\n
He takes reassurance from the gulf between the hostility he gets online and the welcome he receives whenever he returns to Merseyside.<\/p>\n
“Since my departure to Real Madrid, I have returned to Liverpool to visit family on several occasions,” he said. “I have come across many Liverpudlians and Liverpool fans during my travels. And there are no personal interactions I have had that reflect the kind of things you get online or on social media. And that helps me separate the matter from my reality”.<\/p>\n
He added: “This does not mean I am saying everyone in Liverpool is happy about my departure from the club. Of course they are not. But that is very different from the things that go beyond football. And that is why I do not let myself get too discouraged, nor dwell on it”.<\/p>\n
He signed off: “I still watch every match (of Liverpool’s). I support them. I want to see them achieve success. I enjoy watching them, and there will always be a place in my heart for Liverpool, whatever happens. It is my home. The place that gave me the opportunities to do what I have done, and I will always love it. It is a place I will always call my home”.<\/p>\n
You can discuss the topics and news in greater depth in the “Kooora” forums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England star Trent Alexander-Arnold has opened up on his controversial move to Real Madrid last summer, in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[93,8173,85,1818,82,1875,28567,100,83,18298],"class_list":["post-74339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-espanyol","tag-espanyol-vs-real-madrid","tag-laliga","tag-liverpool","tag-madrid","tag-newcastle-united","tag-newcastle-united-vs-liverpool","tag-premier-league","tag-real-madrid","tag-t-alexander-arnold"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}